DA eyes big increase in shrimp production in next 6 months

The Department of Agriculture is gearing up for a shrimp production blitz to enable the Philippines to regain a firm foothold in the export market within the next six months. In an interview, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said he had directed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to draw up a roadmap for the shrimp industry within the next two to three weeks. According to the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (Seafdec), the Philippines is now following a path that is different from its neighbors and is finding the cultivation of both the monodon or Tiger variety and vannamei or white variety as necessary for the development of the shrimp industry.